Though the Stars Walk Backward
San Antonio, Texas As the Blue Star was observed forming by members of the Howling Wolf message board, one of its members, Jacob Lycos, came under attack by mysterious men. Another member of the board, known as Orion, then summoned Jacob to the Council of Light. ; A New Day When Jacob awoke, it was already the next day. He took a moment to realize that he wasn't still dreaming as he took in the sounds from beyond his quarters. Seeing a change of clothes left on top of the dresser, Jacob quickly changed and then left the room. Going back to the main room, he saw a man walking from the entrance with the woman from yesterday by his side. The man seemed important, carrying himself with an air of confidence and authority. The long, black-trimmed coat and sunglasses might have added somewhat to this aura. "Agent Sing, you're positive these men weren't with the Organization?" the man asked. "Yes, Orion," the woman replied. "They were a bit more forward and didn't seem too intent on keeping themselves hidden." "This could be problematic," Orion replied. Looking toward the hallway, he added "Ah, I see you were able to keep Lycos safe on his way here." Upon hearing his name, Jacob walked toward the two, who had now reached a large table in the center of the room. Numerous chairs surrounded the table on three sides, with the side facing the screens left empty. As best as Jacob could figure, this room probably served as a meeting room. "Let me formally introduce myself. I am Orion," the man greeted Jacob. "And this is Mariah Sing." "You're from the Howling Wolf message board," Jacob said, making the connection. "Anyone care to tell me what's going on?" As his hair was still messy from sleeping, Jacob's look of confusion was heightened. "This might take a while…" Mariah said. ; The Council After Orion returned from the surface with some food, he began to explain the world of Seekers to Jacob. Jacob was a bit unimpressed by what seemed like a farce until Orion began to go through current events. "The Blue Star that you and Jairez saw," Orion continued, "was one such Titan - Quetzalcoatl." Here, Orion brought up a profile of Quetzalcoatl on one screen and video from Mexico. "We had set up the Howling Wolf to monitor potential Titan activity in the Americas." "And who exactly is 'we' anyways," Jacob asked, still trying to get things straight in his mind. "We are the Council of Light," Orion replied, "a security coalition of sorts through the Americas. We try to keep the public safe from rogue Titans and evil Seeker groups, like the thugs that came after you. We decided to take to the Internet to gather intel since almost anything interesting appears there first nowadays." "Since you had already reported seeing the Red Comet and other incidents, Orion sent me to watch you," Mariah added. "We didn't want to involve you but suspected that opposition might want to get information from the source." "So that means," Jacob began thinking, processing that Quetzalcoatl had appeared in Mexico, "they might be after Jairez as well?" "We suspect so," responded Orion. "That's why we're scheduled to meet with with our branch in Mexico City shortly." "Open the portal, Janusea!" Mariah called out, pulling an Amulet from her pocket. Energy burst forth, and a humanoid surrounded by several floating orbs appeared. "Mexico City," she told the Titan, who moved toward a device not far from the three people. Energy crackled as a portal of blue energy opened up before them. ; Fallen Stars To Jacob's surprise, the three appeared aboveground without the Titan and with Mariah taking the first step with more effort. "Well," Mariah sighed, "at least it's not a Legendary Titan…" Jacob had no time to ask what she meant by that since another man quickly came towards them. "Ah, bienvenidos, Orion," the man greeted. "They just stopped moving according to our trackers," he said while holding up a tablet showing a red crosshair on a map. "Thanks, Marco," Orion replied. "They're not too far away from here." The group, urged by Marco, piled into his Jeep as Marco packed up a device much like the one underneath the River Walk. While Marco did so, Jacob noticed for the first time that they were located at the base of a large Aztecan pyramid. Following the GPS tracker, the group drove off and arrived not far away at another site. Several men, dressed like the one who attacked Jacob earlier, appeared to be organizing a dig. Several citizens were carrying out their orders, looking fearful of the consequences of disobedience. Among them, Jacob barely made out someone who looked like Iago Jairez. Before Jacob could do more than point, Mariah's hand covered his mouth. Glancing back, Jacob saw Orion nod his head in acknowledgement while signaling to keep quiet. In a barely audible whisper, Orion instructed Mariah to go around the encampment in order to take them from both sides. When Mariah was in position, Orion walked away from the Jeep and then moved towards the camp. Flashes shone from the Amulets the two produced as Orion and Mariah invoked Furoji and Kerosan, respectively. Before the opposing Seekers could react, the two fire-based Titans had created a line of fire separating the thugs from the workers. Marian helped move the workers to safety as Kerosan walked through the fire, unharmed, to join Furoji against the opposition. A few flames to the seats of their pants sent the evil Seekers running for water before they had any time to react. Jacob left the cover of the Jeep to join Iago, calling his friend's name several times while running over. Concerned, Jacob asked, "Are you alright? And who were those men?" "Yeah, I'm okay," Iago replied. "They came demanding everything I knew about the Blue Star we saw yesterday. All I know is that they were after something. Angels or Titans or something like that." "They're after an Amulet, then," Mariah concluded. "Look for any old jewelry or trinkets," she instructed, not having time to give a full description of the Amulet and not knowing what color scheme to describe. As the group began to search, Iago brought over an old tome that had been abandoned in the camp. Orion took it and turned to a bookmarked page, reading it aloud. "And it came to pass that these stars fell to earth as if flung from the heavens. Nevermore would they continue their course. Though the stars walk backwards toward Earth, our future shall move ever the more swiftly forward…" The reading was interrupted when Jacob tripped over something. He picked up a strange Amulet decorated in blue and red with a golden crystal in the center. Intense light shone from the Amulet as Jacob's eyes momentarily glowed with a fierce white energy. When the burst of light died down, Jacob was found to have been rendered unconscious. Category:Fan-fic issues created by Lhikan634